Timepiece with date indicator



March 28, 1961 G. DUCOMMUN TIMEPIECE WITH DATE INDICATOR Filed Sept; 24,1956 INVENTOR. eorges Ducommun United States Patent TIMEPIECE WITH DATEINDICATOR Georges Duc'ommun, Grenchen, Switzerland, assignor to GenevaSport Watch Ltd., Geneva, Switzerland Filed Sept. 24, 1956, Ser. No.611,561

Claims priority, application Switzerland Oct. 21, 1955 4 Claims. (Cl.58-58) The present invention relates to a timepiece with date indicator,in which the said indicator includes two ele- I ments concentric to eachother, one of these elements bearing the numerals of the units and theother element the numerals of the tens of the date. In accordance withthe invention the said elements are intermittently driven by a commonactuating member which is controlled by the movement of the timepiece.

The accompanying drawing shows, by way of example, an embodiment of theinvention.

Fig. 1 is a plan view of this embodiment.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line 11-11 in Fig. 1.

In the embodiment illustrated in the drawing the cannon pinion isdenoted by the reference numeral 1 and carries as usually the minutehand 2, whereas the hour wheel 3, connected with the cannon pinion 1 bymeans of a transmission gear (not shown), carries the hour hand 4. Thepillar plate is denoted by the reference numeral 5.

The hour wheel 3 meshes with a wheel 6 rigidly connected with a pinion 7which meshes with a wheel 8 carrying a pin 9. The wheels 6 and 8 arepivoted in the pillar plate 5. The pinion 7 has a number of teeth whichis equal to half of that of the wheel 6, so that the pinholder wheel 8rotates by one revolution in 24 hours.

A lever 10 having two arms 10a and 10b i pivoted on a cap screwll'screwed into the pillar plate 5. The arm 10a, which is considerablyshorter than the arm 10b, has an end portion 12 extending substantiallyper"- pendicular to the arm 10a. The end portion 12 carries a leafspring 13 held by a screw 14 and arranged in such a way that its freeend slightly projects from the portion 12 (see Fig. 1') and lies in thepath of the pin 9. At the end of the arm 10b ispivoted by means of a pin15 a driving pawl 16. A weak spring 17, bearing on the lever arm 10b,tends to rock the driving pawl 16 in the counter-clockwise direction inFig. 1. The pawl 16 has at its free end a nose 18. A spring 19 the base37 of which is secured to the pillar plate by means of a screw 20 and afoot or orienting pin 21 permanently presses the lever arm a and tendsto turn the lever 10 in the clockwise direction in Fig. 1.

On the cannon 22 of the hour wheel 3 is rotatably mounted an element ordisc23 bearing on its upper face two series each including four numerals14-3-3 and one blank space (or a space provided with a dash constitutingthe tens of the date. An element or ring member 24 concentric to thedisc 23 and rotatably mounted on a groove 25 of the latter, bears on itsupper face the ten numerals 0-1-2- -9 of the units of the date. Thenumerals of the units and those of the tens of the date are exactlyflush with one another. The periphery of the ring 24 has nine shallownotches 26 and one deeper notch '27. On the other hand, the disc 23 hason its periphery six notches 28 standing back from the periphery of thering 24, two notches 29 superposed to the shallow notches 26 of the ring24, and two notches 2,976,672 Patented Mar. 28,1961

30 situated outside the periphery of the ring 24 (see Fig. l). The nose18 of the driving pawl 16 is arranged at such a height that it cansimultaneously cooperate with the notches of the disc 23 and those ofthe ring 24 (see Fig. 2). Two stop pawls 31 and 32, subjected to theaction of a common spring 33 secured on the pillar plate 5 by means of ascrew 34, cooperate with the notches of the disc 23 and of the ring 24respectively.

As may be seen from Fig. 1, the element or disc 23 is of generallyelliptical shape while the element or disc 24 is of circular shape, thevariation in the shapes of the elements obviously depending upon thedepth of the notches therein. A workable combination of proportions ofthe dimensions is had when the elliptical element 23 has a larger Widthat its widest portion as compared to the diameter of the circularelement 24, while the elliptical element 23 has a lesser width at itsnarrowvest portion as compared to the diameter of the cir cular element.

The wheel 6 is held in axial direction by the disc 23, whereas thepin-holder wheel 8 is held axially by the wheel 6.

The dial 35 of the timepiece is shown as removed in Fig. 1. It issecured to the pillar plate 5 by means of non-illustrated supports andholds in axial direction the disc 23 with the ring 24. In the dial 35 isprovided a window 36 through which the date can be perceived.

The described mechanism operates as follows:

Upon running of the timepiece, the hour wheel 3 and therefore thepin-holder wheel 8 are rotated in the clockwise direction in Fig. 1.There has been shown in -full lines in Fig. l the position of the partsat the moment when the pin 9 comes into contact with the leaf spring 13carried by the lever 10. Since this spring 13 bears on the major portionof its length against the end portion 12 of the lever 10, it remainsapplied against this portion 12 when the pin 9 acts on it from the right (Fig. 1), so that the lever 10 is swung in the counterclockwisedirection. There is shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1 the end positionreached by the lever 10 at the moment when the pin 9 is to leave the endof the leaf spring 13. During the movement of the lever 10, the nose 18of the pawl 16, which was first engaged in the notches 26 and 29 of theelements 24 and 23, has slid along the periphery of the elements 23 and24 and has entered the notch 30 of the disc 23. The stop pawls 31 and 32prevent the elements 23 and 24 from rotating during this backwardmovement of the lever 10 and of its pawl 16. When the pin 9 leaves theleaf spring 13, the strong spring 19, which has become tensioned duringthe backward movement of the lever 10, acts on the lever arm 10a andsuddenly swings the lever 10 in the clockwise direction in Fig. 1, sothat the lever 10 takes again its initial position (shown in fulllines). The movement of the lever 10 is limited by the fact that its arm10!) strikes against the base 37 of the spring 19. On the suddenmovement of the lever 19, the pawl 16 turns the disc 23 by an angle of36, whereas the ring 24 remains unmoved since the nose 18 of the pawl 16does not engage any notch of the ring 24. Therefore, the indication 31appearing through the window 36 is replaced by the indication l (or 1 ifthe blank spaces of the disc 23 are replaced by dashes).

Twenty-four hours later, the pin 9 again acts on the lever 10 and thistime the nose 18 of the pawl 16 enters one of the notches 26 of the ring24, but cannot reach the notch 28 of the disc 23, standing back from theperiphery of the ring 24, so that only the ring 24 is turned by one stepof 36, and the indication 1 gives place to the indication 2 in thewindow 36 of the dial 35. The same occurs when the date passes from 2"to 3, from 3 to 4, etc.

When the date has to pass from 9 to 10, the nose 18 of the pawl 16simultaneously enters one of the notches 28 of thedisc 23 and the deepnotch 27 of the ring 24, so that both elements 2.3 and 24 simultaneouslyrotate by an angle of 36. The same occurs when the indication passesfrom 19 to 20 and from 29 to 30. When the date passes from 30 to 31, thenose 18 of the driving pawl 16 simultaneously enters one of the notches26 of the ring 24 and one of the two notches 29 of the disc 23. Thistimeagain, both elements 23 and 24 simultaneously rotate by an angle of36, one of the numerals 3 of the disc 23 being replaced by the secondnumeral 3 of the same disc.

in all cases the change of the date is instantaneous.

The arrangement illustrated offers the advantage that the indication 31is always followed by the indication 1, whereas in the known deviceshaving separate elements for indicating the tens and the units of thedate, the indication 31 is followed by the indications 32, 33, 39, 0,and then finally arrives at the indication 1, so that at least ninesuccessive corrections are necessary at the end of every month, thisbeing most unpleasant to the user of the watch.

The watch illustrated in the drawing does not present any corrcctor forsetting the date indicator. At the end of a month having less thanthirty-one days, it sufiices to actuate the setting mechanism of thewatch backwards to reengage the pin 9 with leaf spring 13 on the rightside thereof for again subsequently advancing the dials upon setting thewatch in a forward direction. Thus it is not necessary to turn the handsforward through a 24 hour cycle to set the next date. It is sufiicieutto turn the pin-holder wheel 3 in a reciprocating movement controlled bya reciprocating movement of the setting mechanism. As a matter of fact,when the wheel 8 rotates in the counter-clockwise direction in Fig. l,the pin 9 acts on the left face of the spring 13 and displaces thelatter without actuating the lever besides, the arm 10b of the lever 10rests against the base 37 of the spring 19 and thus is prevented frombeing swung in the clockwise direction. The absence of a correctorresults in a more watertight watch.

The window 36 of the dial 35 is preferably provided between the centerof the movement and the mark 3 hours of the dial. In opposition to theknown devices in which the date indications are given by a single ring,the described mechanism presents large numerals for the indication ofthe date, so that reading of same is quite easy. Moreover, theindication of the date appears rather near the center of the movement,so that the mark 3 of the dial may subsist.

In the particular embodiment shown and described the elements of thedate indicator are provided with notches on their outer periphery, andby means of these notches they are intermittently driven by a commonactuating member, viz. the pawl 16 carried by the lever 10, thisactuating member in turn being controlled by the pinholder wheel 8, thatis to say by the movement of the timepiece.

In another non-illustrated embodiment the elements of the date indicatormight be constituted by two rings concentric to each other and havingnotches on their inner peripheries, these rings being driven in a mannersimilar to that described above.

-In a modified embodiment the disc 23 might hear two series eachincluding three numerals l-2-3 and one blank space or a space providedwith a das The notches 26 to 30 should then be accordingly modified andit would thus also be possible to obtain the result that the indication31 be always followed by the indication 1, as explained above. In thiscase, the angular pitch or step of the disc 23 would be 45, whereas thatof the ring 24 would be 36, so that the stop pawl 31 had to be replacedby a jumper which would complete the rotation started by the pawl 16.

The backward setting of the hands is possible at al times withoutinjuring the mechanism.

The invention has been described in connection with a watch,particularly a wrist-watch, but it is to be understood that it isapplicable to any timepiece in general such as a pocket watch, a clock,etc.

Various changes in theconstruction, design and operation of theinvention as shown and described, may be made, within the scope of theappended claims, without departing from the spirit of the invention orsacrificing any advantage thereof.

What I claim is:

1. 'In a timepiece with a date' indicator of the type including apowered movement driving a twenty-four hour wheel adapted to turn a pairof concentric discs by use of a common pawl engaging a deep-notchtransfer mechanism, the improvement wherein two notched elements areused for the transfer mechanism, one of the notched elements bearing thenumerals of the units of the date, the other of the notched elementsbearing two series of three of the numerals of the tens of the date anda space (space, 1, 2, 3, 3, space, 1, 2, 3, 3), said one element havingnine shallow notches and one deeper notch, said other element having onits periphery six notches positioned inwardly from the periphery of saidone element, two notches superposed to the shallow notches of said oneelement and two notches positioned outwardly from the periphery of saidone element, so that upon the rotation of the one element ten notchesthe other element is rotated one notch and likewise upon the sec ondrotation of ten notches of the one element the other element is rotatedone notch and upon the third rotation of the one element of ten notchesthe other element is rotated one notch, while upon the next one notchrotation of the one element the other element is likewise rotated onnotch and upon the following one notch rotation of the other element theone element is not rotated whereby composite successive numerals of l-3lare repetitively presented.

2. In a timepiece with a date indicator of the type including a poweredmovement driving a twenty-four hour wheel turning a pair of concentricdiscs through a common pawl engaging a deep-notch transfer mechanism,the improvement wherein two notched elements are used for the transfermechanism; one of the notched elements baring the numerals l, 2, 3, 4,5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 0 of the units of the date; the other of the notchedelements bearing two successive series of the numerals 1, 2, 3, 3,together with a space at the end of each series, said numerals formingthe tens of the date; said one element having nine shallow notches andone deeper notch on its periphery; said other element having on itsperiphery six notches positioned inwardly from the periphery of said oneelement, two notches on its periphery positioned similarly to theshallow notches of the one element, and two notches positioned outwardlyfrom the periphery of said one element; so that upon the retation of theone element ten notches the other element is rotated one notch, likewiseupon the second and third rotation of the one element ten notches theother element is rotated one notch, but upon the next one notch rotationof the one element the other element is also rotated one notch and uponthe following one notch rotation of the other element the one element isnot rotated; whereby composite successive date numbers of 1 through 31are repetitively presented.

3. In a timepiece with date indicator, a powered movement of the typeincluding an hour wheel, an hour wheel cannon carried by the hour wheel,a twenty-four hour Wheel, gearing driving the twenty-four hour wheelfrom the hour wheel, an element bearing two series of the nurneralsl-2-3-3 and a space (1, 2, 3, 3, space, l, 2, 3, 3, space), the elementjournalled "on the hour wheel cannon having a groove on its uppersurface adjacent its periphery, a ring member concentric to-the' elementand rotatably carried on the groove of the element, the ring memberbearing the numerals 0-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9, the ring member having on itsperiphery means forming nine shallow notches and one deeper notch, theelement having a portion of its periphery of a lesser radius than theradius of the ring member, means forming six notches in the elementperiphery in said portion of said shorter radius, the element having aportion of its periphery of the same radius as the radius of the ring,means forming two notches in the element periphery in the said portionhaving the same radius as the ring member, the element having a portionof its periphery of a greater radius than the radius of the ring member,means forming two notches in the element periphery in the said portionhaving a greater radius than the radius of the ring member, a drivingpawl, means actuating the driving pawl from the twenty-four hour wheelupon each rotation thereof, the driving pawl adapted to draw forward atleast one of the notches of the ring member upon each actuation of thedriving pawl.

4. In a timepiece with a date indicator of the type including a poweredmovement driving a twenty-four hour wheel adapted to turn a pair ofconcentric elements by use of a common pawl engaging a deep-notchtransfer mechanism, the improvement wherein two notched elements areused for the transfer mechanism, one of the notched elements bearing thenumerals of the units of the date, the other of the notched elementsbearing the numerals of the tens of the date, one of the notchedelements having a circular outline, the other of the notched elementshaving a generally elliptical outline, the circular element having onedeep notch and nine notches of lesser depth than said deep notch andhaving consecutive numerals 0-9 thereon, the generally ellipticalelement having ten notches of the same depth and having two sets of thenumerals 1, 2, 3, 3 and a blank space before each numeral 1, whereby bysuccessive engagement of the pawl in the notches a composite series ofnumbers from 1 to 31 is presented repetitively.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 34,341Lewis Feb. 4, 1862 234,355 Wagner Nov. 9, 1880 2,024,598 Powers Dec. 17,1935 2,146,340 Jiskra Feb. 7, 1939 FOREIGN PATENTS 21,317 Great BritainNov. 9, 1893

